switchhitter07 (August 18, 2008 at 1:07 am)

Wow I'm very glad to finally hear a Coolidge speech. Ive always looked at him as one of our great presidents. He is very underrated. Everyone raves about how great the roaring twenties were, so Id like to make a point - The president during the roaring twenties was Calvin Coolidge. Perhaps the most feel-good time of the century was headed by Coolidge. That's says alot in my opinion.

ParadiddleMcFlam (August 8, 2008 at 2:32 am)

Hoover did not minimize government. He increased it. He passed a horrible trade tariff, did not allow wages to fall so as to maintain employment, and was really the biggest intervener until FDR. It is a complete myth that he did nothing. He viewed society and the economy as if it were a task of engineering, which is a dangerous and false idea. Still, he wasn't the cause of the depression, though he certainly made it worse. It was Fed policies, just like today.

ParadiddleMcFlam (August 8, 2008 at 2:25 am)

Proves it how? Numerous economists will say precisely the opposite. A central bank is not laissez-faire economics. If his plan was so great, why was 1937 the worst year of the depression? Why is it that real growth didn't begin until after WWII when spending was cut? Make work and war don't lead to prosperity. They are pure waste.

rappoltpierre (August 5, 2008 at 8:06 pm)

not even Coolidge was the best.

JustBigT (July 30, 2008 at 10:30 am)

Martin Van Buren? For what, his avoidance of broadening the US?

DGillUCO (July 26, 2008 at 3:22 am)

It would have started alot sooner except the Very Conservative supreme court that continually blocked almost all of FDR's programs until 1937-38. THats when you started seeing a gradual improvement in the economy...then WWII just created a boom

JesseKantstopolis (April 25, 2008 at 2:26 am)

This is a very interesting video. Thank you for posting it. Calvin Coolidge was a good president. However Martin Van Buren was better.

JesseKantstopolis (April 25, 2008 at 2:24 am)

Derek your wrong. It is the Federal Reserve that created the Great Depression and it was further economic planning that prolonged the Great Depression. The long duration of the Great Depression that required total war to end is in stark contrast to America's first Depression. Martin Van Buren's handling of the depression and its duration of only 4 years proves that FDR's economic intervention only prolonged the depression. I suggest you read the Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek.

1DerekRubin1 (April 9, 2008 at 3:09 pm)

Hoover could have stopped a lot of it but he continued on this trend of Laissez-Faire economics that led the overconfident new generation in the 20s to the economic downfall which would affect all greatly. FDR proves that government intervention in the economy was exactly what we all needed as a country. He pulled us out of the Depression by using the government to create jobs for the people. His term as president clearly COMPLETELY reversed our downward spiral and set us up as a world power.

1DerekRubin1 (April 9, 2008 at 3:05 pm)

Everyone who completely blames it on Hoover is wrong. It happened the year he got in office. There is no question that the actions of the previous administration had something to do with the extravagances that plunged the country into a depression. Hoover was given a tough plate, but he did not handle things well. I don't blame him for it happening, but his management could have been no doubt better. This is because he continued with the old ideas of the 20s, always minimizing government.